Maransen

• Japanese: マーラン (maaran), 馬艦船 (maaran sen)

Maaran were a type of Ryukyuan ships, in the style of Chinese junks, which dominated private commercial shipping within the Ryûkyû Kingdom in the 18th and early 19th centuries. There were typically five to eight such vessels regularly traveling between Okinawa and the Sakishima Islands, though sometimes there might have been as many as twelve. The maaran also came to play a significant role in carrying tribute goods and trade goods from Ryûkyû to China.

The name maaran (lit. "horse ships") is a Japanese/Ryukyuan approximation of the Chinese term, deriving from the idea that these swift vessels sped through the ocean like running horses.

References

• Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, August 2013.
• "Maaransen," Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia 沖縄コンパクト事典, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1 March 2003.